Extension of DVAT 51 filing deadline and original declaration submissions for 2009-10 now due by 31 December 2010.
The Commissioner extends the time for furnishing the quarterly reconciliation return in Form DVAT 51 for all four quarters of 2009-10 until 31 December 2010, and similarly extends submission of the 'original' portion of Declaration Forms C, E I/E II, F, I, J and H relating to 2009-10 to 31 December 2010, by exercise of powers under the relevant Value Added Tax and Central Sales Tax rules.

ISPM-15 compliance required: exports with wood packaging via land customs allowed only with treatment marking or phytosanitary certificate.
Exports using wood packaging material through land customs stations are allowed only if the packaging has been treated and marked per ISPM-15 or is accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate endorsing the treatment; this applies to plant and plant products and follows the amendment to the ITC (HS) Classification and the referenced DGFT notification.

Extension of Time for Reconciliation Returns granted to year-end for 2009-10 quarters, including submission of original declaration forms.
The Commissioner extends the time for furnishing the reconciliation return in Form DVAT 51 for all four quarters of 2009 10 and likewise extends the deadline for submitting the 'original' portions of Declaration Forms C, E I, E II, F, I, J and H, as required under the Delhi Value Added Tax Rules, 2005 and specified provisions of the Central Sales Tax (Delhi) Rules, 2005 and the Central Sales Tax (Registration and Turnover) Rules, 1957, for declaration forms relating to 2009 10.

FTWZ storage rules now restrict warehousing to goods for zone development, unit setup, manufacturing, export or DTA sale.
Amendment limits activities of Free Trade Warehousing Zones (FTWZ) in sector specific SEZs so that units may store goods required for zone development, for setting up units, or for manufacturing and for export or Domestic Tariff Area sale of goods and finished products of units in that particular sector specific zone.

Sanitary Import Permit requirement clarified: livestock products need quarantine NOC or follow Annexure exceptions for customs clearance.
Imports of livestock products require clearance or a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Animal Quarantine & Certification Service (WR), Navi Mumbai before customs clearance; Customs must refer consignments for Animal Quarantine inspection. Notification S.O.655(E) and its amendment S.O.794(E) determine which items require a Sanitary Import Permit, which require only an NOC after inspection as listed in Annexure A, and which are exempt from both permit and NOC as listed in Annexure B. Trade participants must comply accordingly.

Transfer of used capital goods: tax exemption risk if 80:20 new-to-used ratio is not maintained, comply with approvals.
Transfer of used capital goods and businesses into IT SEZ units is permitted but may affect income tax exemptions if the 80:20 new-to-used ratio is breached; Development Commissioners are to be informed while Income Tax Department decides tax treatment. Manpower transfer is unrestricted; master contractors must have distinct subcontracts per SEZ unit. SEZ infrastructure investment should be new. DTA sales are allowed subject to achieving NFE positive earnings within five years. Inter SEZ shifts require Board of Approval consideration. IT/ITES SEZs may include electronic hardware manufacture; non IT testing activities should occur outside the SEZ.

Amendment under BIS Act extends the prescribed duration in the cited notification, altering the previously specified days.
Central Government, exercising statutory power under the Bureau of Indian Standards Act and after consulting the Bureau, amends the cited notification by substituting the previously prescribed period in sub clause (2) of Clause I with a longer duration, effectuating a textual replacement in the principal notification.

Mutual fund transactions via stock exchange infrastructure permitted; clearing members and depositories may process trades subject to conduct and operating rules.
Clearing members may facilitate purchase and redemption of mutual fund units through broker/clearing member pool accounts, and depository participants may process redemption requests for dematerialised units; payment of redemption proceeds to, and crediting of units into, the broker/clearing member pool account discharges the mutual fund/AMC of its obligation to the individual investor, with brokers/clearing members responsible for onward settlement to investors.

Migration to new Indian Customs EDI mandates suspension of filings, manual noting and resumption of EDI processing from data centre.
Migration to ICES 1.5 requires suspension of filings via Service Centre and ICEGATE before cutover, processing or manual noting of pending EDI documents during the transition, and commencement of live operations from the National Data Centre on the specified go live date. Banks must generate the last DBK scroll in the legacy system and resume DBK processing after migration; manual IGMs filed during the cutover will be recognised for legal filing dates, while EGMs must be filed either before migration in the legacy system or after migration through ICEGATE.

Unblocking of refunds: field officers empowered to initiate unblocking; approving authority must verify genuine pendency before approval.
Field officers are now enabled to perform unblocking of refunds in AST and Assessing Officers may place refunds in a pending blocked state. An online MIS allows A.O., Range Head, CIT and CCIT to monitor pendency. Approving authorities must verify genuine pendency from records prior to approving unblocking. A user manual detailing procedures has been issued and uploaded to ITD Application and I-Taxnet for circulation to officers.

Import compliance: Newsprint requires a valid RNI certificate and debiting of imports against annual quota allocation.
Import of newsprint is permitted only with a valid RNI certificate specifying the authorized annual quantity; expired certificates must be renewed and, if renewal is pending, Bills of Entry are provisionally assessed under bond and finalized on production of the renewed certificate. Each import must be debited/endorsed against the importer's annual quota allocation, with original RNI certificates produced to the Assessing Group or Out of Charge Officer, and utilization of imported newsprint reported to the Commissioner of Customs.

Regulation of SEZ recycling units: ban on third party exports and single account controls to prevent DTA diversion.
The Department directs that plastics and used clothing recycling units in Special Economic Zones must not board band or split licences, must route all transactions through a single bank account, are prohibited from third party exports, must submit to 100% gate inspection for DTA sales, and must establish facilities to process used clothing and plastic waste by the compliance deadline; these controls inform decisions on extension of approvals, import entitlements and reprocessing permissions under Rule 18(4) of the SEZ Rules, 2006.

Display of Registered Broker Details required to be prominent across public portals and client communications to protect investors.
Stock brokers must prominently display their name as registered with SEBI, their logo if any, registration number, complete address and telephone numbers on websites, notice/display boards, advertisements, publications, know-your-client forms and member-client agreements; and must include, in contract notes, statements of funds and securities and client correspondence, the broker's registered name and logo, registration number, complete address and telephone numbers, plus the compliance officer's name, telephone number and e-mail address. Exchanges must enforce, amend bye-laws, include inspections and report non-compliance annually.

Phytosanitary requirements: import food grains require Plant Quarantine NOC prior to customs release and inspection.
All imported food grain consignments must be accompanied by a Phytosanitary Certificate with any additional declarations and special conditions endorsed, and customs shall release consignments only after obtaining a NOC from Plant Quarantine Authorities; consignments contaminated with quarantine weeds are prohibited unless devitalized and certified.

Export product nomenclature change: 1,3-Butadiene adopted as the export name while input entitlement stays unchanged.
Amendment to the Handbook of Procedure Vol. II modifies SION A-3559 by changing the export item name to 1,3-Butadiene to reflect international chemical nomenclature; the permitted input entitlement for the corresponding import item remains unchanged.

Export packing disclosure required for edible oil branded consumer packs to enable EDI monitoring of quantitative restrictions.
Exporters of edible oil in branded consumer packs up to five kilograms must include specific packing details - pack size, quantity and brand - within the goods description so the EDI system can capture required data to monitor quantitative export restrictions; implementation difficulties should be reported to the customs office.

Portfolio Managers must accept initial lump-sum investments meeting the Rs.5 lakh minimum and provide three-year performance disclosure.
Portfolio managers must ensure the first single lump-sum investment from a client meets the minimum investment requirement under Regulation 15(1A) and must disclose portfolio performance by investment category for the past three years in the prescribed format per Regulation 14(2)(b)(iv), provide the disclosure document to clients at least two days before agreement signing, publish the latest disclosure document where possible, and refrain from organizing or marketing portfolios as mutual-fund style "schemes."

Vessel profile registration required for non affiliated ports to enter the centralized customs ICES system; agents must submit forms.
Registration of vessel profiles is required to capture details of vessels calling at MP & SEZ, Mundra into the centralized customs application ICES 1.5 by manual entry where the port is not affiliated to the IPA directory. Agents must submit the Vessel Profile Registration Form to designated Customs officers; the system will not permit duplicate entries if the vessel already exists in the IPA directory. The manual facility will be withdrawn once the port becomes affiliated to the IPA.

TDS fourth quarter reporting requirement: enhanced 24Q processing, relaxed CIN-based challan matching, and installation guidance.
Complete information must be furnished in 4th quarter salary TDS statements and the TDS software has been modified to upload and process 24Q 4th quarter returns. Challan matching criteria have been relaxed to a CIN-based approach with a challan mismatch flag used for verification and matched credits applied. PAN validation is deferred to notice printing. Front-end menus and processing workflow have been redesigned. Installation requires downloading listed files, adjusting product profile and running TDS01R25.FMX as system user, with uploads suspended during patch execution.

Value addition requirement updated: Appendix 11B now governs enhancement and revalidation of advance authorisations.
Amendments add Appendix 11B value addition as a comparator for enhancement of CIF/FOB values in advance authorisations issued prior to 27.8.2009: for exports on or after that date enhancement is subject to the lower of 15% and the Appendix 11B VA; for earlier exports it is subject to the lowest of 15%, Appendix 11B VA, or the VA declared in the original application. Revalidation must maintain VA at the higher of 15% (and FTP para 4.1.6) or authorisation stipulation, with Appendix 11B VA prevailing where applicable.